After Yan Ruyu escaped her predicament, her expression grew a little complicated. She hesitated briefly, then said, “I greet the Young Lord.”
Lin Mo teased, “With our relationship, you’re calling me Young Lord?”
Her face stiffened, and she didn’t know how to respond. Suddenly, Lin Mo moved closer, whispering softly by her ear:
“Over two years ago, you really were something—you pulled up your pants and ran.”
Yan Ruyu quickly explained, “I had my reasons…”
But Lin Mo cut her off. “I don’t want to hear your explanation. Just do what you’re supposed to from now on.”
Yan Ruyu lowered her gaze. “If the Young Lord wants my life, you may take it at any time.”
Lin Mo smiled. “I don’t want your life. I’ve always believed in repaying tooth for tooth. As for what you should do going forward, I shouldn’t need to say more, right?”
He had once said that if he ever met Yan Ruyu again, he would make sure she wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. Yan Ruyu understood what Lin Mo meant, and a rare blush appeared on her cheeks.
“Yes, Young Lord…” she murmured.
Lin Mo then turned to Demon Lord Meiyan. “Hand over your divine soul to me.”
He did this to ensure that she wouldn’t secretly make any more underhanded moves. On one hand, she had brought her daughter forward, but on the other, she had started harboring twisted thoughts again. Demon Lord Meiyan understood his meaning, and without the slightest hesitation, handed over her soul.
Seeing this, Lin Mo was quite satisfied. As for how to torment Demon Lord Meiyan in the future, he would let her daughter decide for herself.
Yan Ruyu then asked softly, “Young Lord, what about Xiang’er…?”
“Let’s go. I’ll go with you to fetch her,” Lin Mo replied.
At the same time, this was exactly when Ye Kai had escaped into the Demon Realm. Ye Kai and Wanwan were within the territory of the Baili Clan. His face was twisted in pain, mangled and disfigured, making him look extremely hideous.
“Ah… ah, ba—” He tried to speak but struggled, for his voice had already been taken away by Yuehua. He had no choice but to communicate with Wanwan through his thoughts: “Wanwan, what should we do now?”
Wanwan looked at him with disdain. “What else can we do? You can’t even beat that crazy woman.”
Ye Kai asked, “Wanwan, even you aren’t her match?”
Wanwan glared at him. “What, you stirred up trouble and now want me to clean up your mess?”
As long as Yuehua doesn’t break through to the Divine Transformation stage, she can naturally defeat her. However, she’s already meddled in too many of Ye Kai’s affairs. If she interferes again, she’ll only get dragged into it. For now, it’s just waiting for Ye Kai to reach Divine Transformation—then she’ll reap her harvest.
“Uh…” Ye Kai fell silent. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Wanwan’s attitude toward him was worsening. Still, missing one “egg,” the pain was unbearable.
Seeing him looking half-dead and ghostly, Wanwan said, “I already taught you the method to restore your meridians and foundation. It also works on the body.”
Ye Kai asked excitedly, “The part I’m missing—can it really grow back?”
Wanwan shot him a sidelong glance. “Grow back? You must be dreaming. You’re not a true demon, you don’t have our kind of freakish regeneration. I meant taking someone else’s eyes, ears, or vocal cords and replacing them. Oh, and of course, if you’re not squeamish, that thing can be replaced too.”
Ye Kai’s expression turned grim, but after thinking about it seriously, he admitted to himself that having something was still better than having nothing at all. Over the following days, he harvested what he needed from the bodies of a few relatively handsome demonic cultivators. But since those things weren’t originally his, his face now looked even stranger, and his voice became unbearably harsh and grating.
Once, he could draw in a crowd of women with just his looks alone. Now, most who saw him showed nothing but disgust. Oddly enough, Yuehua—for reasons unknown—did not continue chasing them into the Demon Realm.
Meanwhile, Wanwan gave Ye Kai a rough introduction to the situation there, warning him to avoid offending the wrong people. “You’re not suited to enter the territory of the three great demon clans yet. You should build yourself up in the border regions first. Absorb demonic energy, gather followers if you want—but whatever you do, don’t provoke the three clans. Otherwise, no one will be able to protect you.”
Ye Kai rasped in his hoarse new voice, “Wanwan, are you saying… you’re leaving me?”
Wanwan replied coldly, “Am I supposed to stay by your side forever? Do you really take me for your mother? Don’t I have my own matters to deal with?”
She had just received a voice transmission from her mother: the young lord of the Demon Realm had already been chosen by the clan’s elder ancestor, and she was ordered to return quickly to verify it. Wanwan herself was puzzled—no one had even found the elder, so how had this decision been made? Still, her mother had no reason to lie. Clearly, much had changed in the Demon Realm while she had been with Ye Kai.
If she could establish ties with the young lord—better yet, become close to him—her own status would soar. By then, would she still have to bow her head to her aunt? At that thought, she couldn’t wait any longer and rushed toward the territory of the Meiyan Clan. After all, her mother was none other than Demon Lord Meiyan.
On Lin Mo’s side, he and Yan Ruyu had gone together to the Abyssal Sea to retrieve their precious daughter. The moment Xiang’er saw her father arrive with her mother, she ran over on her little legs, sobbing as she threw herself into Yan Ruyu’s arms.
“Wuwuwu… Mom, Xiang’er missed you so much.”
Since the day she had been teleported away by her mother, they hadn’t seen each other for months. Now, held in Yan Ruyu’s embrace, Xiang’er refused to let go.
Qiqi, standing nearby, was stunned into silence before finally blurting out, “Lin Mo, you really rescued the Saintess?”
Lin Mo teased, “Could it be that your master is fake?”
Qiqi had been raised by Yan Ruyu since childhood—there was no way she would ever mistake her own master.
She quickly stepped forward and bowed respectfully. “Saintess, are you alright?”
Yan Ruyu said, “It’s nothing serious. Yan Yan didn’t dare kill me, she just locked me up, that’s all.”
Qiqi let out a sigh of relief. “Then that’s good to hear.”
Yan Ruyu then asked, “But what about you two—how did you end up meeting?” It was what she was most curious about. Why was Lin Mo in the Demon Realm, and how had he run into Qiqi and Xiang’er again?
Qiqi explained how Xiang’er had snuck off on her own. Yan Ruyu exclaimed in surprise, “So you’re saying Xiang’er found Lin Mo by herself and recognized him?”
Lin Mo, standing off to the side, was at a loss for words. “I really didn’t expect that the girl I picked up by chance would actually turn out to be my daughter. You mean to tell me, aside from describing me as good-looking, you didn’t tell Xiang’er any of my other features?”
Yan Ruyu countered, “Is there anything wrong with that description?”
“Uh…” Lin Mo was stumped—truthfully, there wasn’t really anything wrong with it.
“Xiang’er is indeed the Young Master’s daughter, connected to you by blood. The demon race’s sense for their own bloodline far surpasses that of humans. So it’s not strange that she could recognize you,” Yan Ruyu explained.
That explanation actually sounded reasonable to Lin Mo. After all, the first time he had seen Xiang’er, he too had felt an inexplicable closeness. At the time, he hadn’t understood it, but now he realized it must have been the effect of bloodline perception.
Qiqi noticed how Yan Ruyu addressed Lin Mo and exclaimed in surprise, “Saintess, why are you calling Lin Mo ‘Young Master’?”
Yan Ruyu replied, “This was the patriarch’s decision—Lin Mo is now the Young Master of the Demon Realm.”
Upon hearing that, Qiqi was startled and hurriedly bowed to Lin Mo. “Greetings, Young Master…” Remembering how she had treated him earlier, she felt a wave of nervous unease.
Mo Pao’er, who had been cowering timidly off to the side, was already shocked that the Demon Realm’s Saintess was his Brother Mo’s wife. Now, learning that Lin Mo was also the Demon Realm’s Young Master, he dropped to his knees in a sliding bow.
“Brother Mo—no, my Young Master, my life is yours to command!” He had to cling tightly to this powerful support. After all, being the younger brother of the Demon Realm’s Young Master sounded truly impressive.
Without hesitation, Lin Mo gave him a kick. “Don’t act so distant from me. Just call me the same way you did before.”
After the family of three reunited, they returned to Demon Lord Meiyan’s estate. By this time, Wanwan had already dressed herself up, waiting for the Young Master’s return.
The moment Lin Mo stepped into the estate, her mother, Demon Lord Meiyan, reminded her, “The Young Master is here—remember to build a good relationship with him.”
Wanwan followed her mother out to welcome him, still wondering what kind of person the Young Master might be. But the moment she saw him enter, she nearly lost control of herself.
Isn’t that Lin Mo? What was he doing here?
Demon Lord Meiyan stepped forward and saluted Lin Mo respectfully. Then, seeing her daughter frozen in a daze, she quickly reminded her, “What are you standing there for? Come and pay your respects to the Young Master!”
Wanwan: “……”